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Learning To Push Beyond the Boundaries of Comfort

By Leah Persons When I first started my summer internship with Accountability Lab, I was very excited about the work I would be doing, the skills I would develop, and the people I would meet. As an International Studies major from a small college in Georgia, I was very intrigued by AL’s important global efforts of citizen engagement, accountability, and anti-corruption. I was able to learn about and help with these efforts alongside the Lab’s amazing Global team. However, my internship at AL did something more: it taught me to push myself out of my comfort zone.  Firstly, I had [...]

2023-10-26T07:57:32+00:0028th September 2023|

Mobilizing Civic Voter Education in Liberia

According to the National Elections Commission (NEC), Liberia’s current number of first-time voters is just over 20 percent. This figure demonstrates the need to prioritize civic voter education, especially for first-time voters in rural communities. On 21-22 June, Accountability Lab Liberia hosted a training session to build the civic and voter education capacity of 30 journalists and leaders of youth-led organizations from Counties including Bong, Grand Bassa, Lofa, Margibi Montserrado, and Nimba. The training session aimed to equip the participants with skills to lead creative civic engagement campaigns and build working relationships for cross-collaboration, learning, and advocacy. The training focused [...]

2023-10-02T19:03:44+00:0017th August 2023|

Funke Adeoye and her access to justice mission in Nigeria

Oluwafunke Adeoye, or Funke as everyone calls her, is a lawyer, human rights defender, social innovator, young global leader, and proud Accountapreneur. She is Hope Behind Bars Africa’s Founder and Executive Director. It's an organization that promotes human rights and criminal justice reforms using legal aid, research, evidence-based advocacy, and technology. Funke has led interventions that amplified the work of grassroots advocates across sub-Saharan Africa and saved hundreds of indigent pre-trial detainees. She is a Mandela Washington Fellow and an Acumen West Africa Fellow, most recently winning the 2023 Global Citizen Prize. Hope Behind Bars Africa began its impactful journey [...]

2023-08-24T12:21:20+00:0011th August 2023|

Why climate finance needs greater transparency and accountability

We face an existential poly-crisis related to energy, debt, food, climate, health, and security. Collective action is needed to address these challenges and to build global support for the green accountability agenda. The role of international financial institutions (IFIs) like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is critical to promoting transparency in climate finance and addressing the inherent corruption risks. But the quantity of their funding is just one element of this- the quality of that funding is equally as important but is largely missing from policy debates around these issues.  Progress Multinational Development Banks (MDBs) have [...]

2023-08-14T12:10:39+00:001st August 2023|

Rebuilding Accountability Chains in Zimbabwe

By Alois Nyamazana Broken accountability chains lie at the heart of Zimbabwe’s governance problems. Lack of accountability in Zimbabwe has led to the squandering of precious public resources, and a collapse in the systems that are meant to fulfill citizens’ social and economic rights such as access to clean water, health, education, and adequate food. Citizens, particularly the vulnerable, bear the burden of failed accountability mechanisms, in the face of a deteriorating economy. Compounding this burden is corruption with recent events such as the COVID-gate scandal, in which government officials abused COVID-19 resources by flouting procurement and procedural regulations. A [...]

2022-09-05T09:37:34+00:005th September 2022|

Groups meet FSRC, police, seek road ethics reform

The Accountability Lab Nigeria, in conjunction with the Akin Fadeyi Foundation, on Thursday, held a roundtable discussion on road ethics reform with the Federal Road Safety Corps, at the Federal Capital Territory Sector Command in Abuja. Present at the occasion focused on improving road behaviours of drivers and security officials that would lead to reducing corrupt practices on roads, were officials of the FRSC, police officers, officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, and some driving school instructors. The Country Director, Accountability Lab Nigeria, Odeh Friday, stressed that Nigerian road users could improve on their road usage ethics [...]

2022-09-07T07:37:11+00:0025th August 2022|

Practical Ways CSOs Can Manage Closing Civic Space

Civic space has been closing everywhere for a long time - from the UK to Mexico to Zimbabwe - and represents, along with the corruption that accompanies it, one of the biggest threats to democracy everywhere. For citizens, and particularly for those of us interested in free, open societies, this can be an existential threat - not a day passes without protesters being killed, journalists going missing or activists being murdered. For a translocal network like Accountability Lab this is also a question of survival, so we are doing everything we can to understand how we can proactively manage the [...]

2022-07-28T11:42:12+00:0013th July 2022|

Accountability Music Awards opens nominations for 2021

Nominations have officially opened for the 2021 Accountability Music Awards (AMAs). The 2021 AMAs are a collaboration between Accountability Lab, the ONE Campaign and the African Union to honour African musicians whose music calls out the vice of corruption or advocates for good governance through the fight against corruption. By providing a platform for conscious musicians, the AMAs aim to galvanise citizens in demanding greater transparency and accountability from institutions, corporations and the African citizenry. The campaign also recognises the critical role that music can play in getting citizens involved in anti-corruption reform by shifting norms and behaviours. Nominations can be submitted [...]

2021-10-11T10:50:15+00:007th October 2021|

Public Trust and the Nigerian Police: The Abba Kyari Story

The recent suspension of the once-celebrated police officer, Abba Kyari, on suspicion of links to an international fraudster, has set off a tidal wave of socio-political debate. Lack of trust in the police was already a widely accepted consensus among Nigerians prior to this latest indictment, owing to many reports of corruption, ineptitude, and impunity. The country is still sour from the nationwide #EndSARS protests against police brutality; even more so from the grim Lekki tollgate shootings that followed. Nowadays, many citizens no longer look to the nation’s security apparatus for protection, but rather pray not to encounter them in [...]

2021-08-25T13:00:06+00:0025th August 2021|

AL Pakistan’s brave Covid19 pivot

Fayyaz Yaseen is the Country Director of Accountability Lab Pakistan. He is a passionate development professional with extensive experience working on issues including governance, accountability, institutional reform, and political-economy transitions. “Ever since I was a student I was inspired by people from the development sector. They always sounded intelligent to me. I loved the way they thought about issues and respected them for their intellectual depth. They were learned people with open minds and seemed to understand every challenge faced by Pakistan as a country, in a logical manner. This inspired me to follow their footsteps and join the development [...]

2021-07-14T12:16:33+00:005th July 2021|
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